Junk-Food Industry Fights
School Food Standards

PASASF Press Release 5mar03

Parents Advocating School Accountability www.pasasf.org
Dana Woldow, 415/664-1278 or nestwife@wli.net

San Francisco -- As Senate hearings on school lunch and breakfast programs opened March 4, a coalition of soft-drink and junk-food manufacturers in the guise of “fitness and nutrition” advocates announced opposition to "one-size-fits-all" national standards for school food.

Members of the so-called American Council on Fitness and Nutrition include the National Soft Drink Association, the Sugar Association, the Chocolate Manufacturers Association, the Snack Food Association, the National Council of Chain Restaurants, the National Confectioners Association, the National Automatic Merchandising Association and Kraft Foods.

The organization’s publicity repeats the soft-drink and junk-food industry theme calling for more exercise rather than reduced consumption of high-fat, high-sugar, low-nutrition foods.

“Decisions about the availability and selection of food choices in schools should be made by parents, educators and local communities,” the organization declared in a March 4 press release, “and should not be subjected to a ‘one-size-fits-all’ standard at the national level.”

The soft-food and junk-food industries have been widely accused of exploiting children in high-pressure sales pitches to persuade school districts to push sodas and unhealthy snacks to children. Industry publicity is believed to be behind the frequently repeated but unfounded myth that junk food brings in higher revenue than nutritious food to cash-starved school districts. ##

For more information on the junk-food industry’s aggressive targeting of schoolchildren, go to www.pasasf.org.

Complete list of members of the American Council on Fitness and Nutrition: http://www.acfn.org/about/members.html

• American Frozen Food Institute
• Andrews Associates, Inc.
• Association of National Advertisers
• Chocolate Manufacturers Association
• Food Marketing Institute
• Grocery Manufacturers’ Association
• International Dairy Foods Association
• Kraft Foods National
• Automatic Merchandise Association
• National Confectioners Association
• National Council of Chain Restaurants
• National Restaurant Association
• National Soft Drink Association
• Snack Food Association
• The Sugar Association

American Council on Fitness and Nutrition press release 3/4/03 http://biz.yahoo.com/prnews/030304/dctu031_1.html

Californians for Sensible School Nutrition Policy is a similar organization mostly composed of industry trade groups that opposed California’s SB 19, a 2001 bill that made a weak attempt to impose standards on school food. Its members: http://www.gmabrands.com/news/docs/Testimony.cfm?DocID=833

• American Bakers Association
• California Association of Directors of Activities
• California Association of Student Leaders
• California Automatic Vendors Council
• California Chamber of Commerce
• California Grocers Association
• California League of Food Processors
• California Nevada Soft Drink Association
• Chocolate Manufacturers Association
• California Restaurant Association
• California Retailers Association
• Dairy Institute of California
• Grocery Manufacturers of America
• International Dairy Foods Association
• Jelly Belly Candy Company
• National Automatic Merchandising Association
• National Confectioners Association
• National Soft Drink Association
• See’s Candies, Inc.
• Snack Foods Association
• Western Candy Conference

Complete list of members of the Grocery Manufacturers Association:

http://www.gmabrands.com/membercos/membercos.cfm